Mass Effect: LEGACY - The Renegade Planet
by Frank Kim
Summary: The year was 2185 and a renegade planet was threatening the galaxy! Sovereign has been defeated; Saren was dead. Who is this new threat? With Shepard gone, the Normandy destroyed, who will step up to save the galaxy? Find out at masseffectlegacy dot com
1. Chapter 1 - The Renegade Planet

The first post of a new PBEM RPG, Mass Effect: LEGACY. Join us at masseffectlegacy dot com

Location: The planet Haestrom, in the Dholen System

Captain Kor'Miga vas _Braven_ was apprehensive about their incursion into Geth space. He was a man who valued safety in numbers and did not prefer stealth maneuvers in the hopes to avoid Geth ships in the Dholen Star System. However, as he was on a three-year mission to relay data from the Quarian unmanned spy drones back to the Migrant Fleet, he drew the short straw when the Conclave ordered him to investigate the occurrence. It was something of a mishap; a possible equipment failure on a virtual-intelligence controlled spy drone that detected the anomaly forcing Miga and his crew to risk their lives in Geth-controlled space. The Flotilla's long range reconnaissance drones that routinely keep an eye on Rannoch and other Geth-controlled systems had detected two curiosities: There were no Geth ships in Dholen and there was a massive disturbance near the planet Haestrom.

Haestrom was the third out of three planets in the Dholen system. The Dholen star was a curiosity in and of itself. There was once a Quarian colony on Haestrom who's only purpose was to observe the strange phenomena. The star was in the final stages of its life, threatening to turn into a red giant. When this type of star collapses in its death throes, it expands greatly after its core contracts and the number of nuclear reactions increase while the overall temperature lowers which gives it a reddish-to-orange color. Dholen was not supposed to go through this phase for billions of years, according to studies made by Quarian astronomers, however it was suspected that dark energy was involved in the destabilization of the star, causing increased nuclear reactions in the core despite the plentiful supply of hydrogen fueling it.

The magnetic and gravitational disturbances within the Dholen system have caused major communication & sensor interference which have prevented pin-point accurate readings of the activities on Haestrom. However, there was enough clarity to know that the Geth had patrol ships around Haestrom. The Geth established a suborbital mining station and cargo facilities on or around the planet as well as space stations nearby. It was not known to the Quarians how the Geth managed to maintain their communications, yet their scans revealed an organized, efficient, operation on and above the planet.

When the _Braven_ decelerated from FTL, Captain Miga had to maneuver the ship into the system's asteroid belt. Unlike other star systems, he did not have to worry about his ship's mass effect fields being detected. There was enough magnetic interference and his ship was small enough to enter the system undetected. He remained careful enough to hide in the asteroid belt just to be extra safe; his cautionary tactics were legendary in the Migrant Fleet. They can be seen as cowardice by outsiders, to the point of paranoia, but nothing was more important to a Quarian captain than the safety and security of his ship.

"Keep the FTL drive online and fully charged," Miga ordered. "I want to leave here the moment we are detected by the Geth."

"Understood," his helmsman replied.

Miga stood up from his seat and cursed. "Bosh'tet," he barked. His leg itched but his environmental suit prevented him from being able to scratch it. He considered risking opening a side panel to scratch it, but he did not want to be confined to quarters for a week with anti-biotics to fight the resulting infection. He never understood how the other Quarians resolved such issues and he was much too embarrassed to ask. Spending his entire life in his suit, he thought he would be used to the various urges and itches his body would encounter.

Completely aware that he cursed out loud for no apparent reason, Miga made his way over to the communications/sensor console and nodded to the officer, Ani'Mila nar _Quib Quib_, stationed there. "What are the passive scan results?" he asked.

"I-I am not sure if this is accurate," the woman replied. "According to this, there is a fourth planet in proximity to Haestrom!"

Ani'Mila nar _Quib Quib_ was young, very young. She has not been sent on her Pilgrimage yet, she was so young. Yet she volunteered to serve as a communications technician for this mission because she wanted "real world experience". Miga knew her father, who had requested that she joined this mission which Miga reluctantly approved. The patrons of the _Quib Quib_, despite its comical name, were the more influential members of the Migrant Fleet. Miga curried some favor taking Ani on board. Yet, her youth and inexperience could be the cause of this ridiculous report.

"Magnetic and gravitational disturbances are riddled throughout this system," Miga tried to reassure her. "There cannot be a fourth planet. Please re-run the scan."

"I have three times, Captain," Ani replied. "The results are the same and I have done my best to compensate for the interference."

Miga knew that if he took over the console himself, relieving her, he would show the crew that he had no faith in her. Her pride would be wounded and her family name would be damaged. This would get back to her father on the _Quib Quib_, which in turn would have repercussions to himself. He cursed himself for allowing such inexperience in an important position on his ship. It would have been less messy to refuse Ani's father's request for her to join this mission. But it was too late, she was here now and he would have to carefully guide her without making her look incompetent.

"Run a diagnostic," Miga ordered. "It must be an equipment failure on our scanners."

That was not likely the case. On one hand, it can be considered an insult to tell a Quarian that the equipment of her station was not functioning properly. However, she did report that there was a fourth planet in a star system with three planets so it was not that unreasonable of a request. Hopefully, she would understand that. Miga was pretty certain that was an understandable request.

"The diagnostic is complete," Ani replied without questioning the order. She displayed the results on the primary monitor.

The ship's main viewscreen was a 50-inch Panasonic Viera that Miga procured from a human colony. It was not the biggest screen, but it suited his needs well and everyone on the cramped bridge of the _Braven_ can see it clearly. Most human displays have become holographic by now so the need for ancient liquid crystal display technology was almost non-existent. Quarians recycled everything; when the human trader sold him some plasma converters for his ship, they threw in the screen as a gift.

Miga reviewed the results and frowned. The sensors were working perfectly and was detecting a whole fourth planet very close to Dholben's third planet. Magnetic and gravitational disturbances aside, an entire planet cannot be made undetectable. Especially this close to another planet. He could not believe his eyes, but he did trust his ship's sensors. Miga did not look forward to the possibility that they would have to go in for a closer look.

Luckily, Ani'Mila had an alternative suggestion.

"Captain," she said. "We are close enough to one of our unmanned drones that I can create an encrypted remote control of the ship. I can pilot it close to this renegade planet to get a better look and take some pictures."

Miga felt guilty about his thoughts about her inexperience. What she lacked in experience she made up for in expertise and he had failed to trust her. He was certain that distrust translated to the tone of his voice and she sensed it. What he wanted now, more than anything, was to show her that he does trust her. It was just a plus that she had a good idea about how to further investigate this…occurrence. Quarian protocols state that they get a closer look using maximum safety precautions and return the data back to the Migrant Fleet, where further action would be considered.

"That is an excellant suggestion, Ani'Mila vas _Braven_," Miga replied proudly. "Make it so."

It was a point of pride for her when Miga referred to her as vas _Braven_; even without going on her pilgrimage, Miga offered her a home on his ship. That made up for all the mistrustful thoughts and intones and suggestions he ever made of her when she joined his crew. And Miga knew that she would perform at her very best, which he expected no less.

The 2048 Gbit encryption that Ani setup when connecting to the unmanned drone would take the Geth's entire collective consciousness twenty years to crack. The connection was somewhat unstable, which was expected in the environment they were in. Once Ani had control, she plotted a careful and slow course towards Haestrom, piloting the ship manually the entire time. She did her best to make the ship's pattern as erratic as possible, to make it look like debris that had a thruster that kept misfiring. A trip that should have taken an hour took nearly twelve before it reached Haestrom.

On the main viewscreen, telemetry date from the unmanned drone was replaced by real-time video. The image was full of static but it was clear enough to expose what was left of the Geth presence on Dholen. There was wreckage of multiple Geth cruisers and debris from the Geth space stations that were orbiting Haestrom. The signs were that they were all destroyed by some kind of natural occurrence it did not look like combat took place here at all.

"Keelah," he whispered as the drone maneuvered past the Geth debris. He had seen battle damage to ships before; mostly human and Turian ships from the First Contact War. But he had also witnessed a ship who had the misfortune of straying too close to a black hole. The heavy gravity slowly crushed the ship until it completely imploded before it disappeared into the depths of the singularity. The destroyed Geth ships looked like they all ventured too close to a black hole…but there was no black hole to be found.

But that was not what astounded Miga the most. It was when the drone was in visual range of Haestrom. The mysterious fourth planet, what Ani referred to as the "renegade planet", was behind Haestrom and completely dwarfed it. The planet was orange, though it could have been the reflection of the increasingly orange light from the Dholen sun, and nearly twice the size of Haestrom. It made Haestrom look like it was this fourth planet's moon – not the other way around.

"The drone's scanners are detecting a breathable atmosphere," Ani reported. "The planet's protective magnetosphere is intact and its surface is not affected by Dholen's extreme radiation. There are lifesigns on the planet as well, but the drone's scanners were modified to detect Geth and will not register individual life. There can be a million life forms on that planet or a billion. Or a hundred billion. But that is not what intrigues me."

Miga's jaw dropped. He barely heard what Ani reported as he stared at the visual readout on the orange planet. In hundreds of years of spaceflight, there was never a fourth planet in Dholen. Yet, as if out of nowhere, the planet was there and full of life and strength that overwhelmed this dying system. The itch in his leg was gone, yet he felt a foreboding sense of gloom surrounding him. He did not know why he was feeling this way; perhaps it was the idea of an alien civilization so advanced that they can hide an entire planet for millennia or more.

"What intrigues you, Ani'Mila?" Miga asked.

"There is an enormous mass effect field," she replied, analyzing the results.

Miga turned around to face Ani. He went up to her and gave her a reassuring look. "This mass effect field," he said. "How enormous is the field? As large as a Mass Relay?"

She gave him a look of disbelief. "No captain," she replied. There was a tone in her voice that told Miga she felt that she was out of her league. To be fair, they were all out of their league and need a special operations group with advanced sensors to explore this phenomena. "The mass effect field is two hundred million times the size of a Mass Relay's field density."

_'Two hundred million times the size and density of an average Mass Relay,'_ Miga thought to himself wildly. The element zero and dark energy requirements alone must be as large as the planet. Another thought occurred to him. Was this planet the cause of the destabilization of the Haestrom sun? The influx of dark energy causing the core destabilization of the sun and the increased nuclear reaction had to be of massive proportions. Yet, he was not a scientist, he did not know enough of these things to come to a accurate conclusion.

"Shall we investigate further?" Ani'Mila vas _Braven_ asked. "Or should we return to the Migrant Fleet for further instructions?"

Captain Kor'Miga vas _Braven_ frowned as he turned back to the viewscreen. Despite the foreboding sense of terror he was feeling right at this moment, there remained a stronger sense of curiosity that urged him to press forward. To order his helmsman to move the ship toward the planet and begin active scanning, despite the fact that they were unable to relay the results to the Flotilla or that the _Braven_ was only a scout vessel with limited scanning and data storage capabilities. He also had to consider the dangers to the one hundred forty officers and crew of the _Braven_. Lastly, he had an obligation to Fleet protocol and had to report his findings to the Admiralty board. Should he stay and investigate or turn around and run home?

Miga smiled. "Keelah se'lai, Ani'Mila vas _Braven_," he said. _(By the homeworld I hope to see one day)_

The _Braven_ emerged from its hiding place and began to move toward the planet.

–  
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	2. Chapter 2 - Waiting in Line

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Jadanth - Ferris Fields Spaceport - "Waiting in Line"

Not for the first time that morning Jadanth silently cursed the humans at the data centre. He'd been standing in line for nearly two hours now, long enough by the standards of the general population of humanity that lived on Ferris Fields, but for a Salarian like Jadanth it felt like an eternity. Why was everyone so slow in dealing with anything? They seemed to thrive on bureaucratic nonsense and be adept in the creation of ever more convoluted ways to make it harder to get the job done.

Jadanth was not a human, he was a Salarian. At two metres high he was tall compared to most humans but still only average height for a Salarian. His build was slight and his skin a light grey that faded to a darker brown as it reached the top of his horned head and three fingered hands. It wasn't entirely without foundation that the humans compared the Salarians to "the greys" of their pre-FTL history. The most striking feature, however, was his eyes - over three times larger than a humans, black and entirely featureless. Salarians could outstare any human, usually while contemplating several other things and trying not to get bored with the entire process.

The data-centre had all looked promising when he'd first arrived - the system looked efficient and people were queuing, waiting in what he'd supposed was an orderly fashion. But half an hour later he was still waiting as people seemed determined to argue about utterly irrelevant subjects rather than the data-service requests this place was meant to be for. Then when his ticket number had approached the service counter display had conspicuously skipped his number and moved on past it. And kept going up and up.

He'd complained twice now, the surly staff had told him to go back in line and wait.

The LED banner above the service desk finally flashed his ticket number and Jadanth headed for the desk and pulled up a spinning globe of data-time projections for his request from his Omni-tool.

"I would like, finally, to request a 2000 cycle time slot of the data-centre to process my off-world link parameters, the full details of this..."

The human behind the desk cut him short.

"Been a mistake pal, your number came up by mistake. Get back in line."

Jadanth's mind quickly assessed all the responses, looking over the man's face he could see that his time here was going to be an utter waste. There was no way he was getting at time at this data centre. He stared unblinking at the man with his large dark eyes, calming himself by calculating just how large an explosion might be needed to propel him out of his desk and through the data centres window.

"I see. I shall return to the queue then."

Jadanth walked out of the data centre.

He'd been at the spaceport for nearly five days now, tracking down various pieces of information for a client who had interests here. A delivery of ship thrusters had gone mysteriously missing from a consignment that had been delivered over twenty days ago and the client hadn't had any luck finding where it had gone, so he'd hired Jadanth to locate who and where exactly they had gone. Three million in ship parts, it was an expensive loss.

But the people at Ferris Fields had been far from helpful. Most of the humans seemed very reluctant to help him with his requests and thus far he'd not made that much progress. He knew he could use the data-centres massive processing power to cross reference movements for the parts and give him a likely delivery station to the port, but getting the time for it was not going to happen.

Outside the data centre people wandered past, most just ignored him. There were few non-humans around, the whole planet gave Jadanth the feeling that he was being watched however.

Around the side of the data-centre a large hover-van pulled up, two men began to unload boxes into a service entrance.

Jadanth allowed himself a small smile. There was more than one way to get time on their servers.

-  
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	3. Chapter 3 - Machinations

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Location: Anderson Rotunda, Ferris Fields

ON:

The Anderson Rotunda was a massive structure made out of the hull of a colonial ship with marble flooring, altered and re-purposed into a large, round, building. It had that classic architectural look and feel of an Earth government building that stands as a tribute to the economical success of the Ferris Fields colony. Captain John Stark momentarily forgot that they were not on Earth upon stepping into the building. While most colonies typically used their colonial vessels to build structures and living spaces, Ferris Fields actually went to the trouble of dismantling their colonial vessels and build actual buildings. The result of which, for those that landed here, was stepping into a city reminiscent of Earth. And they flourished.

Ferris Fields was a human colony located in the Terminus Systems. Among the first of the human colonies to traverse this far into the galaxy, Ferris Fields was found to be a rich source of element zero, which was used in the construction of FTL drives and other various devices. The element typically forms through the interaction of solid matter with the released energy of a supernova. Astronomers had theorized that this system used to be home to a binary star system, based on the unusual amounts of debris fields around the sun and planet. With such a rare and valuable element in such abundance on this world, especially a world with no claim to it from any of the other galactic governments, Ferris Fields was definitely a good find.

The Ferris Fields government, which was independent from the Systems Alliance, had recently open their world to free intergalactic trade. They built a massive, surface-based, spaceport that allowed for ships large or small to land and dock at any time. An open port was what it was, not just for those who have business on Ferris Fields but also for those that were passing through and did not fancy a long space flight. Many private corporations had built mining facilities on the planet, far from the city, who enjoyed the opportunity to commence business negotiations on the same world as the product.

Opening the planet for business on the intergalactic market created some controversy among many of the human colonists, who felt that Ferris Fields was a human colony for humans only. Many were not pleased when aliens started landing here, some even taking up residence, and had called for immigration laws to be put in place against those who are "not of planet Earth" to settle here. That was contrary to the government's interests, which were to become the next center of commerce throughout the Terminus Systems.

With the exception of the mining companies, the local businesses and citizens have built a pro-human coalition and called themselves theFundamentalists Union of Conservative Knowledge, Education, and Diversity (aka F.U.C.K.E.D., for short) and have rallied for the government to shut down the spaceport and only allow human ships to land on the planet. There was widespread fear that the aliens would invade the planet and eventually Ferris Fields would lose its human identity. There were protests all around the government buildings, some of which lead to violence. Local law enforcement was supplemented by Alliance Marines, which the Systems Alliance gladly supplied to protect one of their main suppliers of element zero.

When Stark landed on the planet, he had expected a typical mining colony with old ship hulls for barracks and mining facilities everyone. Instead, the planet lived up to its name. There were fields all over the place. Unlike Earth, Ferris Fields was primarily land-locked throughout the entire surface of the planet, with lakes scattered throughout. The colony itself was built around a large lake, comparable to one of America's Great Lakes, and had an idyllic atmosphere. One would never know that this was a mining planet. Though it was the government's wish to become the next Illium, Ferris Fields felt more like a farming community. The nearest mining facility, owned by Sardonix, was over a hundred miles away.

Though the colony did not have spiraling towers, the city was grand in its own way. The colonists have worked very hard in making this city look and feel like one of the older Earth cities. Trees, parks, streets, etc. were placed carefully throughout that was purposefully designed to make Stark feel like he was on Earth. Gravity was as close to Earth-norm as a planet's gravity could be. Even the foliage looked like it was imported straight from Earth. The air smelled sweeter. He was perplexed. And there were the fields around the city. There were actual fields! The planet lived up to its name.

Captain Stark had originally objected to this assignment. Settling a local government dispute was not his specialty. He had spent most of his career in strategic operations or command for the Corsairs program, deploying special operations throughout the galaxy, primarily espionage against the Batarians and Turians. But, as Admiral Black frequently tells him, his role as a commander must be versatile and capable to adapt to changing circumstance. There was also the concern of Cerberus involvement, which would make this Stark's first foray into investigating Cerberus activities. Though there was no evidence to show that the pro-human terrorist group had anything to do with what was happening on Ferris Fields.

"Evidence shows that since aliens started landing on this planet local crime has grown fifty-eight percent," said Holly Shyte, spokeswoman for the Fundamentalists Union of Conservative Knowledge, Education, and Diversity. The woman, who was clearly in her forties, was wearing a form fitting grey business suit that looked so tight Stark had to wonder how she was able to move around. Her normally auburn hair had streaks of grey while she wore thick-rimmed glasses that magnified her blue eyes. Her demeanor was utterly serious as she spoke in front of the governing council as well as Stark himself.

The large, rotund, room they were in sat about fifty people. Many of whom were local reporters and journalists, representatives from local businesses as well as the larger corporations, Holly Shyte and her entourage, and the governing council of Ferris Fields. Stark and his men sat in the lower left quadrant of the room while everyone else were divided into their own quadrants, the governing council sitting on a slightly raised platform. At the head of the governing council sat the Governor, Jenny Reed. Reed was an overweight, triple-chinned, supremely bald man who was smoking a cigar and wearing a cowboy hat. He wore a dark suit that was made specifically for him with the chain of a golden pocket watch hanging out of his pocket. The man was breathing irregularly from an untreated heart condition and his face was as red as a red giant sun. The man gave Shyte a quizzical look.

Stark cleared his throat. "In the time span you have provided," he spoke, facing the woman from F.U.C.K.E.D., "ninety-eight percent of these crimes were committed by humans. There were seventeen cases of grand larceny, six cases of sexual assault one of which the victim was a Salarian woman, and only two violent crimes both of which were human against human. The Ferris Fields Police Department has done a commendable job in maintaining law and order and I expect they will continue to do so. Also, let me point out that most of these crimes would probably still have occurred even if the spaceport never opened."

"I will have to disagree with you on that point, sir," Shyte spoke up. "The alien arrival has put the good people of Ferris Fields on edge, which makes them more prone to committing criminal acts when they feel their sovereignty is inthreatened."

"Inthreatened is...not a real word," Stark winced. He looked down at this prepared notes then looked back up to see that Shyte looked flustered. Governor Jenny Reed stifled a laugh while the reporters were all taking pictures with their hover cameras and taking notes.

Stark was not used to the public stage. Black operations did not typically involve speaking eloquently to reporters or politicians. He realized he must have embarrassed the woman, publicly, in front of all the reporters on the planet. It was now going to be much more difficult to get her to compromise on the issue of intergalactic trade on the planet. What was worse was that she had the support of nearly forty percent of the colony, which was approximately fifty thousand people. A civilian uprising could lead to civil war and mass destruction throughout the colony. Stark did not want that.

The death and destruction aside, from the point-of-view as a representative of the Systems Alliance, a civil war on Ferris Fields would cut the Alliance off one of their major element zero suppliers. They could not send a fleet of ships to Ferris Fields without the threat of war from the other powers in the Terminus Systems. It was a delicate situation which Stark had just made more delicate. A single woman's pride could mean ruin for them all.

The worst part was, she knew she was in a position of power.

"Captain Stark," she seethed, unable to hide her contempt, "do not pretend that you are here representing the best interest of Ferris Fields. Your mandate is to maintain the Alliance's element zero supply by negotiating some sort of compromise between the Fundamentalists and the Governing Council. My people and I have certain inalienable human rights not to allow the contamination of our species by introducing a disruptive element that could potentially destroy the paradise that we have worked so hard to create. We have succeeded in defending our world from the likes of the Blood Pack and Blue Suns mercenary groups, only to open the doors to the aliens who have fostered those groups."

"We have already instituted policies that will disallow any corporations known to do business with terrorist groups from landing on this planet," Governor Jenny Reed bellowed, his voice subdued from a constricted throat due to his massive weight. "Blood Pack, Blue Suns, Cerberus, Eclipse, and all the other terrorist or terrorist-watch groups are not welcome in Ferris Fields!"

The governor started coughing hysterically as he wiped his lip with a handkerchief. The man was breathing more heavily than normal and he looked as though he were sweating under that dark suit. Stark frowned worriedly then turned back to Reed.

"Yet they have been landing in secret," Shyte snarled. "Vorcha in the alleys, Asari hiding among the whores in the brothels, Turians in the pool halls, planting the seeds of chaos in our world."

"Well, an educated person would have taken note that you seem to know a lot about these "secret" landings and you have fertilized those seeds causing the chaos to grow rapidly," Stark said matter-of-factly. If he stayed quiet enough, he could faintly hear the protestors in the background chant "Hell no! Tell the Aliens to go!" over and over again. "Just look outside at the demonstrators causing a massive disruption to the day-to-day activities of this planet."

"It is just a peaceful, organized protest by the good citizens of this fine world," Shyte said proudly, a self-satisfied smile on her face. "Humans standing up for their rights to live an alien-free life..."

"...On an alien planet," Stark finished. "Ms. Shyte, humans are the most ethnically diverse species in the galaxy. Chinese, Belgian, Irish, Vietnamese, even the Los Vegans are all different types of humans. We embrace our differences, not-"

"Don't presume to lecture me on the diversity of humanity!" said Shyte, enraged. "I was on Benning when the Batarians attacked! Both my husband and my son were killed by a Batarian death squad and the Alliance soldiers that were supposed to protect them were not around! Those filthy things should never be allowed here to destroy this peaceful place! NOT EVER!"

For a moment, there was stunned silence. Stark remembered the incident on Benning; he was there running tactical for the Alliance Marine Response Unit. And he knew why those Alliance soldiers, two infiltrators, were not present when the death squads started killing the general populace.

"Ms. Shyte," Stark started quietly. But he was not allowed to finish.

"Enough," Governor Jenny Reed stood up. Stark noted that it took some effort for the larger man to stand. "Ms. Shyte, I am sorry for your loss, but the fact of the matter is, free and open intergalactic trade is good for this planet's financial future. There will be no compromise-" he coughed "-no...backing down-" he coughed again, this time more violently "-and we will not relent-"

Stark frowned as the governor collapsed to the floor, coughing and wheezing. There was a general hysteria as many of the reporters with the holocams surrounded the governor on the floor to record the event. Stark rushed into the crowd, ordering them to get out of the way, to give the poor man some air. One of the reporters, a woman who came all the way out from the Citadel, shouted something about freedom of the press and attempted to question the governor. Stark elbowed her and pushed her out of the way as he knelt down by the governor.

"We have a medical emergency at the Anderson Rotunda, my location," Stark spoke into his omni-tool, calling for his personnel. Governor Reed was clasping his chest. The men from his unit responded right away and that they will arrive momentarily.

"It...feels...like I've been run over...by something heavy," Reed gasped.

"Do you feel numbness on your arms?" Stark asked gently as he used his omni-tool to scan the governor's metabolism. He felt his belt for a pack of medi-gel and then remembered that he did not typically carry medi-gel when he was in dress uniform.

Reed managed a weak nod.

"Okay, you are currently experiencing sudden cardiac arrest," Stark said quietly. How the governor did not see this coming two hundred pounds ago, he'll never know. "I want you to take deep breaths through your nose, slowly but surly. Breathed in as far as you can go, then breathe out. Do not stifle the urge to cough."

"Thank...you..." he gasped as he obeyed.

"He sounds like a Volus!" Shyte said loudly, comparing the raspy, heavy breathing tones of a Volus speaking through his encounter suit. "Are you sure that the governor is who he says he is? Maybe he's a Volus disguised to look like Governor Reed!"

"Alright," Stark had enough, "that's it, get the fuck out! Security, clear the room!"

Though Captain Stark had no authority here, the security guards responded to his commanding tone and began to clear the room. Shyte was escorted out gently as she smirked in Stark's direction. Stark knew that, despite her ramblings about humanity for humans, she lost hers a long time ago. That was why she was so cavalier about the Governor's predicament. Stark was not a psychologist, but he knew that woman was no longer a person inside. He saw it in her eyes.

Stark's men arrived; a security force along with two medics and his yeoman, who walked up to him. Stark watched as the medics injected some type of blood thinner to help with the blood-flow and placed a respirator mask on the governor's face. Air was pushing its way into the governor's lungs as color returned to the man's cheeks.

"Captain," the young man spoke. "I have to tell you something."

"Can it wait?" Stark said impatiently as he knelt by the governor. He was distracted by the governor's condition. The rest of the governing council stood by at a respectable distance as well as the local security, letting in only essential personnel.

"No sir, I'm sorry but it can't," said the yeoman softly. "There was an explosion at the spaceport. A civilian passenger liner with over five hundred passengers and crew took off and exploded at five hundred feet. The debris rained down all over the port, but the bulk of the damage was at the local data centre."

Stark turned to the yeoman. There was little time to process the information; he stood to his feet then activated his omni-tool's communication unit. "I want a manifest of the liner that exploded as well as telemetry data from the control tower. Work with Ferris Fields police to close down the spaceport and begin active scanning for possible explosive devices. Until we know more, we will proceed with the assumption that this is a terrorist event. I want all air and space traffic grounded and have any arriving ships assume an orbital pattern until further notice."

"Sir," the yeoman spoke, "we're going to need the governor's permission to shut down the spaceport."

Stark nodded and turned to Reed. Instead of seeing the governor look back, he saw the forlorn faces of his medics stare back at him. Governor Jenny Reed laid still, no longer breathed, as one of the medics bowed her head. "I'm sorry, sir," she said, sadly. "The Governor is dead."

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